The Patient
by Razell
Summary: A doctor in an asylum interviews a very unusual patient. Based on The Ravenloft D&D campaign setting


The Patient

Dr. Morris regarded the youth sadly.

He was about thirteen, with a wild mop of blond hair and strangely piercing blue eyes. Despite his small size and innocent appearance, he was strapped securely in a straitjacket. His delusions of vampirism had led to several violent attacks on patients and staff. Oddly, he only bit the _back_ of the neck, as if he wanted something other than blood.

He glared at the doctor in silent defiance, he didn't like the straightjacket, but that was only natural.

Everyone, well almost everyone, hated to be confined, especially energetic young boys.

Suddenly the boy tensed up and huddled into a corner, shaking. His eyes widened and he flinched, as if expecting to be hit.

It was a tragic case, truly_ tragic_. Delusional and suffering from split personalities.

One timid, frightened, clearly suffering the after-effects of severe abuse.

The other...

The other was, as much as he hated to use the term,_ evil_.

Sadistic, malevolent, violent and treacherous.

No. He _wasn't_ evil. The poor boy was just _sick_...

He could be_ cured_.

The doctor smiled gently, "It's alright, Colin. No one will hurt you."

"The cap'n..."

"Is not here."

"Did ye' find her? _The Mercy_?"

"_The Mercy_ was lost at sea. Captain Baykur is _dead._ I've told you that."

"A vampire... I'm a vampire..." He whimpered.

The boy _was_ pale, and he _did_ have oddly elongated canines. Perhaps that was the root of his delusion, a slight physical trait magnified into an unholy curse by a lifetime of abuse and an overactive imagination.

"Come now, Colin. You _can't_ be vampire. You walk in the sunlight. You do not flinch from holy symbols..."

"Dominiani..." He whispered in terror.

The doctor sighed, Dr. Dominiani was the foremost alienist in the realms. The Asylum for the Mentally Disturbed on Dominia was renowned as the most advanced in the known world. Yet the boy insisted that the imminent doctor was an evil vampire.

And that he had turned the boy into a vampire, _personally_.

"Cerebral vampire..."

The doctor frowned. Colin was an intelligent lad, for a self-confessed 'sea dog', (more like 'sea pup'), but what could he know of the _cerebrum_?

He sat on the small bed, "What do you mean,_ cerebral _vampire?"

"T-the brain... Fluid... _Not_ blood."

"Is that why you, the _other_ you, bites the back of people's necks?"

He nodded frantically in the affirmative.

"You drink the... _Cerebral fluids_ of others?"

Again a silent nod.

It made sense, in a mad way.

It was certainly a_ novel_ delusion, if nothing else.

...

The boy had been brought in about a month before after biting a young lady on the streets of Mordentshire. Once they'd extricated him from the angry, superstitious mob determined to stake him, the doctors had brought him here, to Saulbridge sanitarium. He'd been babbling about a ship full of vampires, a strange boy who could fly and Dr. Dominiani. Since then he'd attacked several patients and staff. Despite his small size, he was exceptionally strong, requiring several attendants to subdue him. The individuals he bit displayed... _Odd_ symptoms for a time, lapses in memory and judgement, even signs of dementia, in some cases. All were, fortunately, temporary. It made him wonder if the boy were not a carrier of some exotic disease.

Dr. McClintock had just recently assigned Dr. Morris to the case, and he could see the poor boy would need a great deal of therapy if he were to ever be released, which seemed unlikely.

...

"It's true..." Colin said weakly.

_Such a sad case... _Dr. Morris shook his head, "We'll do everything we can to help you..."

Meanwhile, the 'good' Colin had vanished back into the recesses of his tortured mind. The vampire Colin regarded his human half as weak and cowardly.

But he was no fool.

He maintained the appearance of the cowering child.

It was hard, hiding his undead nature, he had charm the doctors and attendants who occasionally came in to check on his health. The last thing he needed was for them to realize that he had neither heartbeat nor pulse. Pretending to eat was painful, he could not digest any food but that directly taken from the brains of others, but it was a necessary evil. He was able to purge himself quickly once in his secure cell.

But he still needed to feed...

Colin realized that if he was to feed, he would have to pretend to be the 'good' Colin. He could easily rip through the straightjacket, but that would tip his hand. If he was 'good' they would remove the straightjacket, and he could hunt freely. He could feed discreetly, on the worst cases, the ones who would not be believed, whose odd behavior would not be suspected. Perhaps he might even be freed, if he played it right, and if his human side didn't expose him.

But where would he go?

Captain Baykur had not been seen since they landed at that strange island, with that boy, _Peter._.. The doctor might be right, the captain could be dead, or rather, _more dead._ He had no desire to go back to Dr. Dominiani, the man was a monster, even more violent than the captain, but in a different way. The captain had only beat him, the doctor had not only killed him and turned him into a vampire, but he was a master at twisting minds. He tortured his patients, drove them insane in ways even the young vampire found wicked. Neither Colin had any fondness for the man.

Even his weak human self _hated_ Dr. Dominiani.

The other Colin might know of his plan, it was hard to tell. The personality change made him disoriented, and came so suddenly, so unpredictably. Each 'Colin' knew of the other, of course, but how_ much_ they knew about each other was unclear even to them.

No matter, if the other knew, he would not be believed.

He was in a_ madhouse_, after all.

And these fools didn't believe in vampires...

The End

Notes:

_Colin_ is a canon character, He appears in the Ravenloft adventure _Bleak House: Seas of Madness_. He is the cabin boy on the caravel _Mercy_, crewed entirely by cerebral vampires, under captain Ridg Baykur, who brutally abuses him. Still, he hopes it will end and he'll get a better position on-board. His human personality is deathly afraid of Baykur and wants to escape, his Chaotic Evil vampire side enjoys being a vampire, though it's doubtful he likes being beaten. The shock of being killed and revived as a vampire, as well as the abuse, is responsible for his split personality. If he were to kill anyone, (and he's not _that_ stupid), they would not become cerebral vampires, but Ghouls under his control. He's no smarter than your average thirteen year old boy, but his vampire side is cunning and ruthless.

Cerebral vampires are not harmed by sunlight or holy symbols, though they dislike Lawful Good holy symbols and avoid them if presented by a firm believer. Most have to sleep in the coffin in which they were buried, but Colin was not buried and needs no coffin, though he must rest for at least eight hours.

_Dr. Declaud Heinfroth_ (AKA _DR. Dominiani_) is the Darklord of Dominia and head researcher of The Asylum for The Mentally Disturbed. He is a sadistic monster who psychologically tortures his patients, driving them even further into insanity. He is also the creator of the cerebral vampire. He also appears in _Seas of Madness_.

_Dr. Sean McClintock_ was created by The Kargatane in the Ravenloft Netbook, _The Forgotten Children_.

_Saulbridge Sanitarium_ appears in the Ravenloft adventure _Ravenloft II: The House on Griffon Hill._

The_ Mercy_ sank in my story _The Darklord Pan_. It was sunk by _The Jolly Roger_ after Captain Hook learned it was crewed by vampires. The 'flying boy' is Peter Pan, who is the Chaotic Evil Darklord of Neverland. He took Colin as a 'Lost Boy' some time before The _Mercy_ was scuttled, but Colin bit him and fled into The Mists.

_Alienist_ is an antiquated term for one who studies the mind.


End file.
